Breaking Boundaries (5th in Breaking Series)

Chapter Three: Tall Rugged and Broodingly Handsome

Chapter Three: Tall , Rugged and Broodingly Handsome

'Holy hell!' Aiden couldn't form any more intelligent thoughts than that. His arm was burning from the hand wrapped tight around it, but it was a good burn. Those gray eyes were staring deep back into his own looking very much like storm clouds and the face wasn't so bad either. Weathered, tired, a bit sad, but rugged and manly.

Aiden swallowed hard, trying to redirect his thoughts. He worked hard to never give in to these thoughts and impulses; to hide his attractions. This man had managed blasted through all that with a stick of dynamite just by grabbing his arm.

"I said—" Tall, rugged and broodingly handsome ground out. "—why don't you watch where you're going?"

"I'm... I'm sorry." Aiden stammered. The man growled, released his hold and shoved Aiden back, causing the oversized hat to topple off his head.

The giant of a man, all six and a half feet of him, cursed under his breath and stooped low to grab the hat and shove it into Aiden's chest. Aiden's heart was thundering as he clutched at his hat and stared at the man. The blue chambray shirt was tight on a set of broad shoulders and a well-muscled chest, which led down into a flat stomach and lean hips and a set of legs that were—

"Hey Nick, I see you already met Aiden." Wendell's voice came from behind Aiden, snapping him out of his assessment of the growling man. Aiden's eyes flew up to this man, Nick's, face and his heart skittered to a stop when he saw Nick's gray eyes looking back in his and something flickered in them. Something like hunger—but the emotion was gone just as quickly as it had appeared and left Aiden thinking that he had probably been imagining that it had ever been there at all.

"Who's Aiden?" Nick asked as he stooped to pick up a sack that he had dropped when Aiden had crashed into him.

"This is Aiden." Wendell replied, tipping his head. "Susie wants us to take him back to the ranch with us and talk to Liz about hiring him on.

Nick's brow rose and he looked Aiden up and down, causing Aiden to swallow hard. "Kid, you know a damn thing about ranching?"

"I'm no kid." Aiden replied, finally finding his voice. "And.. uh.. well no."

Wendell shook his head. "It doesn't matter. Susie said to do it. If we don't then she might go to Brody. You want him pissed at you over upsetting Susie?"

"Hell no." Nick admitted. Leaving Aiden to wonder who Brody was.

"Is everything ready to go then?" Wendell asked and Nick simply nodded.

Aiden was about to get on his horse, as the other men climbed in the cart but Nick snapped his fingers. "Your damn horse is on its last leg from the look of it. You can ride in the back of the cart."

Aiden wanted to argue and tell this man off for treating him like a child but he couldn't seem to think let alone speak with those gray eyes staring at him. So Aiden tied the horse's reins to the back of the cart and then climbed in, sitting atop several sacks of flour.

The ride to the ranch seemed to take forever but the scenery was nice. Lush hillsides covered in long grasses and brilliantly colored flowers. Aiden's favorites were the blue bonnets. It was almost as if you were looking out over the sea when you passed a big enough field of them. And Aiden had to admit that while the flour sacks were hard, they were a welcome relief after being jostled around on a horse's back for weeks.